Jayden awoke screaming.
It wasn't a sound of terror—it was raw, guttural, animal. His eyes shot open, crimson and glowing faintly in the pitch darkness. His limbs flailed, and for a moment, he didn't know where he was.
Then the pain hit.
Every nerve in his body roared with agony. It felt like his blood was boiling—except… there was no blood.
[SYSTEM ALERT: BLOOD RESERVES: 0% — BODY UNSTABLE]
He collapsed again, breath hitching in his throat. Even blinking took effort.
"You're awake," came a voice—smooth as velvet, sharp as razors.
Jayden tried to lift his head, but couldn't.
Torches flared along the walls, revealing a vast chamber carved from blood-colored stone. The ceiling stretched endlessly above, ribbed like the inside of a cathedral's bones. Crimson mist wafted through the air, thick and unnaturally warm.
And standing at the center of it all… was her.
Countess Divina.
Her silhouette was framed by shifting shadows. She stood at the edge of a ritual pool glowing with bloodlight. Steam curled from the surface like whispers. Her long hair flowed like ink in water. Her blood-red dress clung to her curves, a blend of majesty and menace.
"I almost let you die," she said, casually twirling a chalice in her hand. "Would've been poetic. Tragic. But you intrigued me."
Jayden groaned, his mouth dry. "W…Where…?"
"You're in Veindusk. Capital of the vampire world," she said, kneeling beside him. Her perfume was intoxicating—something ancient and dark. "Or what's left of it. This realm only opens for blood worth summoning. Yours cracked the gate open for the first time in centuries."
She leaned closer, her face inches from his. "But I didn't bring you here to rest. I brought you to test you."
Jayden tried to speak, but his voice cracked.
"You should be dead," Divina said. "No blood. No strength. No will left."
Then she leaned back, holding up her wrist. "And yet…"
A single claw extended from her fingertip. She sliced her wrist cleanly.
Thick, dark-red blood poured out—glowing slightly, like molten rubies.
Jayden's body reacted on instinct. His fangs ached. His eyes turned wild. Hunger screamed through his body like a storm.
"Feed, whelp," Divina commanded. "Let's see if your soul is strong enough to handle the taste of royalty."
Jayden hesitated… then lunged.
His fangs plunged into her wrist, and everything changed.
The moment her blood touched his tongue, it was like swallowing liquid fire. Power surged through him—ancient, immense, terrifying. His broken bones cracked and snapped as they repaired. His muscles tightened. His claws sharpened. Vision cleared. Hearing expanded.
[SYSTEM ALERT: BLOOD SOURCE — COUNTESS DIVINA (PURE ROYAL LINE)] [SYSTEM BOOST — TEMPORARY POWER SURGE GRANTED] [SYSTEM WARNING: OVERLOAD POSSIBLE IF FEEDING CONTINUES]
Jayden tried to stop—but he couldn't. The blood was a drug, an ocean, a world.
Divina grinned.
He fed like a starved beast, eyes rolling back, moaning through the pain and ecstasy.
Then suddenly—
SPLASH!
Divina kicked him backward into the blood pool.
Jayden hit the surface, and instead of sinking, the liquid wrapped around him—coating him like armor, crawling across his skin, branding him with vampiric glyphs.
Divina's voice echoed through the chamber. "That's enough. Too much of my blood and your heart would explode."
Jayden thrashed in the pool, then went still—floating, gasping.
[SYSTEM REBOOTING…] [SYSTEM MESSAGE: NEW EVOLUTION PATH UNLOCKED — "CRIMSON HEIR"]
Jayden emerged, half-floating, his eyes glowing like twin blood moons. His wounds were healed. His chest rose steady. His skin had turned just slightly paler—but his aura… darker.
Divina clapped mockingly. "Impressive. You didn't melt."
Jayden stood slowly. His legs trembled, but they held. "Why… help me?"
Divina's smile turned cruel. "I didn't. I invested."
She circled him now, inspecting him like a lioness might inspect a cub who bit back. "You're mine now. My blood flows in you. You walk because I allowed it. You live because I want to see what a freak like you becomes."
Jayden frowned. "Freak?"
"RQ blood," she whispered. "Royal Qualia. Only one being in every few millennia has it. Even I don't know what it does entirely. But when I tasted you—I felt hunger. For the first time in a thousand years. That shouldn't be possible."
She stopped, leaning into his ear.
"So congratulations… Crimson Sovereign."
Jayden blinked.
"Wait, what did you call—"
But a rumble shook the chamber.
The massive doors at the far end creaked open, revealing a dozen figures in cloaks—eyes glowing, teeth bared.
Divina turned, her smile gleaming. "Ah. The elders have arrived. They heard the gate was opened."
One elder stepped forward. "You brought a newborn here, Divina? Is this a joke?"
Divina laughed darkly. "He survived feeding on me. Let's see if he survives them."
She shoved Jayden forward.
"Impress me, Sovereign. Or die again."
Jayden clenched his fists, feeling power crackle in his veins—barely contained. His system whispered a single word into his mind:
Kill.